Post on 25-Oct-2020
Boris Aronson:
An Inventory of His Scenic Design Papers at the Harry Ransom Center
Descriptive Summary
Creator: Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
Title: Boris Aronson Scenic Design Papers 1939-1977
Dates: 1939-1977
Extent: 5 boxes, 4 oversize boxes, 47 oversize folders (4.1 linear feet)
Abstract: Russian-born painter, sculptor, and most notably set designer BorisAronson came to America in 1922. The Scenic Design Papers holdoriginal sketches, prints, photographs, and technical drawingsshowcasing Aronson's set design work on thirty-one plays writtenand produced between 1939-1977.
Language: English
Access Open for research
Administrative Information
Acquisition Gift and purchase, 1996 (G10669, R13821)
Processed by Helen Baer and Toni Alfau, 1999
Repository: Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin
Biographical Sketch
Boris Aronson was born in Kiev in 1900, the son of a Jewish rabbi. He came of age inpre-revolutionary Russia in the city that was at the center of Jewish avant-garde theater.After attending art school in Kiev, Aronson served an apprenticeship with theConstructivist designer Alexandre Exter. Under Exter's tutelage and under the influenceof the Russian theater directors Alexander Tairov and Vsevolod Meyerhold, whomAronson admired, he rejected the fashionable realism of Stanislavski in favor of stylizedreality and Constructivism. After his apprenticeship he moved to Moscow and then toGermany, where he published two books in 1922, and on their strength was able toobtain a visa to America. In New York he found work in the Yiddish experimentaltheater designing sets and costumes for, among other venues, the Unser Theatre and theYiddish Art Theatre.
Aronson's first major success was The Tenth Commandment, directed by MauriceSchwartz at the Yiddish Art Theatre in 1926. His reputation was further improved by anexhibition of his set models in New York in 1927 and by the 1928 publication of a bookabout Aronson by the art critic Waldemar George. Aronson quit the Yiddish theater toavoid the "ghettoization" of his work and began doing Broadway productions in 1932.Between 1935 and 1939 he did several productions for the Group Theatre, among themtwo Clifford Odets plays and Irwin Shaw's The Gentle People, the latter considered abreakthrough for Aronson. In the 1930s and early 1940s Aronson experimented withprojected scenery and did his first settings for a ballet and a musical.
Despite Aronson's critical successes in the 1930s, his career was in limbo for much of the1940s and 1950s. In a Broadway which favored tactful sets over dramatic designs, otherdesigners were getting many of the better productions. Aronson was forced to temper hisabstract, Constructivist inclinations and produce naturalistic sets, but he continued tomake important contacts. In 1953 he created sets for The Crucible, the first of six ArthurMiller works that he would design. He worked frequently with the directors HaroldClurman and Garson Kanin and was praised for his sets for the long-running The Diaryof Anne Frank (1955). He became proficient in using collages, and some of his workanticipated the epic style that he employed to great effect in the "concept"musicals of the1960s and 1970s.
Aronson's career upswing began with Fiddler on the Roof (1964). His first commercialsuccess, the play marked the beginning of Aronson's fruitful association with theproducer-director Harold Prince. After creating sets for two productions at theMetropolitan Opera, Aronson collaborated with Prince on Company (1970). The showfeatured Aronson's most Constructivist sets to date and established Stephen Sondheim asa composer. Three more Price/Sondheim/Aronson shows in the 1970s( Follies, A LittleNight Music, and Pacific Overtures) solidified Aronson's reputation as one ofBroadway's most respected artists. His last set design was in 1976 for The Nutcracker, choreographed by Mikhail Baryshnikov. Aronson won eight Tony Awards andmaintained an active career as a sculptor and painter until his death in 1980.
The Boris Aronson Scenic Design Papers were donated to the Ransom Center by Lisa
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
The Boris Aronson Scenic Design Papers were donated to the Ransom Center by LisaAronson in 1996. One rendering for Love among the Ruins was a purchase.
Scope and Contents
The Boris Aronson Scenic Design Papers, 1939-1977, contain original sketches,photostats and copy prints of sketches, photographs, art reproductions, scripts, technicaldrawings, and a model which document Aronson's work as set designer for thirty-oneplays written or produced between 1939 and 1977. The papers are arrangedalphabetically by title of production and can also be accessed by playwright, librettist, ortranslator via the index of authors following the folder list. Items are grouped together inaccordance with their original order, e.g., the two folders of photographs for The Gardenof Sweets have not been interfiled, but are left in Lisa Aronson's original groupings.
Though the papers are slightly skewed toward the later part of Aronson's career, his workin the 1940s and 1950s is amply represented. In particular, works by Arthur Miller,Tennessee Williams, and Irwin Shaw abound. These production materials includeMiller's The Crucible and A View from the Bridge, Williams' The Rose Tattoo, andShaw's The Gentle People. Also represented are two Stephen Sondheim works ( Company and Pacific Overtures) and four Harold Prince productions( Fiddler on theRoof, Cabaret, Company, and Pacific Overtures). Two of the works represented in thesepapers, The Golden Door and Love among the Ruins, are unrealized projects for whichAronson made preliminary sketches. Also included are scripts of three plays on whichAronson did not work: Sex and Death by Woody Allen (never produced, though Death was published in Allen's Without Feathers in 1975); Vieux Carré by TennesseeWilliams; and Benjamin Sonnenberg's unproduced 1975 translation of FernandCrommelynck's Les Amants puérils.
The bulk of the papers comprises concept drawings, study sketches, and preliminary andfinal renderings for stages, scenery, show curtains, and cyclorama projections. Thesketches range from a single prop to individual scenes to overall floor designs. They areexecuted in pencil, ink, watercolor, lithographic crayon, or pastel. (For brevity andclarity, all of the drawings, renderings and sketches are referred to as "sketches" in thefolder list; those utilizing color media such as watercolor and pastel are so noted.)Complementing the renderings are research files and production photographs. Theresearch files contain art reproductions, a few postcards, and photographs, many ofwhich were taken by Robert Galbraith of Jamaica, N.Y. The production photographsdepict Aronson's models or the finished sets. Also present are technical drawings and astage model for Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy. Completing the papers are rehearsalcopies of scripts, including multiple versions of Pacific Overtures and Company, and afolder of bulletins written by director Garson Kanin to production personnel duringrehearsals for Dreyfus in Rehearsal. Annotations found throughout the papers areusually Lisa Aronson's.
Item-level descriptions of all materials except for the Incident at Vichy model areavailable in an earlier finding aid in the Reading Room.
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
Notes Concerning the Folder List
In the folder list, year of production is given in parentheses after the title of the work.Dates for the contents of individual folders are given only if known and if they differfrom the year of production. The number of items per folder is given in parentheses.
Abbreviations used in the folder list are as follows
Source: Rich, Frank, with Lisa Aronson. The Theatre Art of Boris Aronson. New York:Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.
Related Material
Elsewhere in the Theater Arts Collection is an Aronson costume rendering for Day andNight (1924) which can be found in the W. H. Crain Costume and Scenic DesignCollection. Other Aronson papers are located at the New York Public Library for thePerforming Arts.
Arrangement
The finding aid for the Boris Aronson Scenic Design Papers is a conflation of theoriginal inventory created in 1999, and of a small addition that was catalogued in 2006.The addition, consisting of two models for The Creation of the World and OtherBusiness and two set designs for Fidler on the Roof is described only in the Folder List,continuing the box and folder numbering sequence. The Scope and Contents does notmake reference to the addition.
Index Terms
Names
Furth, George, 1932- .
Kanin, Garson, 1912- .
Miller, Arthur, 1915- .
Shaw, Irwin, 1913- .
Weidman, John, 1946- .
Williams, Tennessee, 1911-1983.
Subjects
Theaters--Stage-setting and scenery.
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
Set designers--United States.
Document Types
Photographs.
Scripts.
Set design drawings.
Sketches.
Technical drawings.
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
The Assassin (1945)
Sketches (3) location ff 1
Sketches with watercolor (3) location osb 6.1-3
Photostats of sketches (3) location 1.1
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
Bus Stop (1955)
Sketches with watercolor (2) location ff 2-3
Photos (5) location 1.2
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
location 1.3 Cabaret (1966). Scriptlocation 1.4 A Childhood Disease (translation of Les amants puérils). Script, 1975
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
The Cold Wind and the Warm (1958)
Sketches with watercolor (5) location ff 4-8
Photos (47) location 1.5
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
location 1.6 Company (1970). Script, 1969; see also A Husband, a Wife and a Friend
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
The Country Girl (1950)
Sketches with watercolor (7) location ff 9-12
Photos (27) location 1.7
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972)
Sketches, some with watercolor, pastel, and paint (9); collage; assembled piece
locationosb
6.4-6; ff41-44
Photos (7); copy prints of sketch (2) location 1.8
Copy prints of sketches (4) location 2.1
Model ("Basic Formation") location osb 10
Model for Act 1, Scene 1, "Adam and Eve" location osb 11
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
The Crucible (1953)
Sketches with watercolor (5) location osb 6.7-9; ff13
Postcards (3); art reproductions (2); photos (23) location 2.2;osb 6.10-11
Photos (6); copy prints of sketches (3) location 2.3
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
location 2.4-5 Do Re Mi (1960). Scriptlocation 2.6 Dreyfus in Rehearsal (1975). Company bulletins by Garson Kanin with clipping, 1974
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
[ Fiddler on the Roof] (1964) (previously titled Tevye). Script
Script location 2.7
Set designs, 1965 (2) location ff 48
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
The Garden of Sweets (1961)
Sketches with watercolor (4); collage location osb6.12-13; ff 14-16
Photos, 1963, nd (4) location osb 6.14
Photos (40) location 2.8
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
The Gentle People (1939)
Sketch location ff 17
Photos (3) location 3.1
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
The Golden Door (1948)
Sketches with watercolor (6) location osb 7.1-6
Photos (17) location 3.2
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
location 3.3 A Husband, a Wife and a Friend (an earlier version of Company). Script, nd
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
Incident at Vichy (1964)
Technical drawings (7) location ff 45, 47
Stage model location osb 8-9
Photos (32) location 3.4
Photos (11) location 3.5
Photos, 1965, nd (9); copy print of sketch location 3.6
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
I've Got Sixpence (1952)
Sketches with watercolor (15) location ff 18-23
Photos (10) location 3.7
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
Love among the Ruins (1951)
Sketches with watercolor (3) location ff 24-26
Sketch with watercolor location osb 7.7
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
A Memory of Two Mondays (1955)
Photos, 1946, nd (13) location 3.8
Photos (2) location 3.9
Script location 3.10
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
location ff 27 The Merchant of Yonkers (1938). Sketch with pastellocation 4.1 Orpheus Descending (1957). Script
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
Pacific Overtures (1976) (previously titled An Untitled Play about the Opening ofJapan). Scripts
[Feb. 1975] location 4.2
May 1975 location 4.3
Aug. 1975 location 4.4
Sept. 1975 location 4.5
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
The Rose Tattoo (1951)
Sketches with watercolor (3) location ff 28-30
Photos (3) location 4.6
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
location 4.7 Sex and Death. ca. 1975 Script,
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
Small War on Murray Hill (1957)
Sketches with watercolor, 1956, nd (3) location ff 31-33
Sketch with watercolor location ff 46
Photos (6); art reproductions (2) location 5.1
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
location osb 7.8; ff 34 The Survivors (1948). Sketches with watercolor (2); photostat of sketch
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
This Is Goggle (1958)
Sketches with watercolor (5) location ff 35-39
Photos (13) location osb 7.9-10
Photos (9) location 5.2
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
location ff 40 Truckline Café (1946). Sketch with watercolorlocation 5.3 Vieux Carré. Script, ca. 1977
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
A View from the Bridge (1955) (previously titled From under the Sea)
Sketches with watercolor (5) location osb 7.11-15
Photos (2) location 5.4
Script location 5.5
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
Boris Aronson Scenic Design Papers--Index of Authors
Material from the Addition is not included in this index.
Allen, Woody Sex and Death
Anderson, Maxwell Truckline Café
Behrman, S. N. The Cold Wind and the Warm
Furth, George, 1932- CompanyA Husband, a Wife and a Friend (an earlier version of Company)
Grumberg, Jean-Claude Dreyfus in Rehearsal
Hansen, Waldemar The Garden of Sweets
Inge, William Bus Stop
Kanin, Garson, 1912- Do Re Mi
Masteroff, Joe Cabaret
Miller, Arthur, 1915- The Creation of the World and Other BusinessThe CrucibleIncident at VichyA Memory of Two MondaysA View from the Bridge (previously titled From under the Sea)
Odets, Clifford The Country Girl
Plagemann, Bentz This Is Goggle
Rice, Elmer Love among the Ruins
Rosten, Norman The Golden Door
Shaw, Irwin, 1913- The AssassinThe Gentle PeopleThe Survivors
Sherwood, Robert E. Small War on Murray Hill
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980
Sonnenberg, Benjamin A Childhood Disease (translation of Les Amants puérils)
Stein, Joseph Fiddler on the Roof
van Druten, John I've Got Sixpence
Viertel, Peter The Survivors
Weidman, John, 1946- Pacific Overtures
Wilder, Thorton The Merchant of Yonkers
Williams, Tennessee, 1911-1983 Orpheus DescendingThe Rose TattooVieux Carré
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Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980